


Second Hand Memories

by Kittenixie



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara Has Their Own Body, I haven't posted here in so long aaaa, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Frisk, Other, The Ruins (Undertale), True Lab (Undertale), nonbinary chara, sorry guys but i keep forgetting to work on stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 08:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8659105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittenixie/pseuds/Kittenixie
Summary: Chara's head was full of second hand memories. Things they didn't experience themselves, but they still remembered all of it.
It was an odd thing.





	

Chara hated the True Lab.

Not because of the creatures inside, the dark and depressing atmosphere, or even because of the stress of going there. No, it was because of the memories. The tapes were the only documented ones, of course, but there was also the entire horrible place. And that horrible machine, especially.

The first time they'd been through with Frisk, they'd immediately urged them to avoid it like the plague. A plague it was, in their mind. Just like the horrible doctor who'd built it, the one whose name slipped their mind every time they tried to remember it. Their memories of him were only vague, but still existing.

Now that they were here again, they had a chance to actually examine the huge thing. It had a shape akin to a goat's skull, which only served to make it more unnerving, held up by several metal tubes and wires. It was two steps up from the ground, leaving small walkways to travel through the lab. It was made of off-white metal, some spots rusted, but it might still be functional. Not that they were going to touch its controls with a twenty foot long pole. An electronic sign to the side of it simply read;

"DT EXTRACTION MACHINE  
STATUS: INACTIVE"

Chara stepped up to it, running their hand along the smooth, cold metal. They wondered, if the thing were alive, would it feel remorse for everything it'd done. It'd been built simply to cause death and destruction. And it had done its job. If it were alive, would it feel sorry? Would it resent what it was created and used for? They couldn't know. It was stupid to think about.

"Chara? What're you doing?" Frisk asked curiously, snapping them out of their thoughts. "You told me to stay away from that thing, don't be a hypocrite." Chara puffed at that, crossing their arms and sticking out their tongue.

"I was just thinking. And don't worry, I'm not as clumsy as you are." They turned back to the machine, touching one of the ridged metal pipes. Privately, they wondered what the pipes lead to. Where did they put all of the DT they'd gotten from it? Was there some kind of storage room somewhere?

"That's rude," Frisk huffed, pouting. "So why did you want to come here? It didn't seem like you wanted to be here when we went through at first." They observed, looking up at the demon curiously. Of course, it was Chara's idea to come, but Frisk insisted that they go along to make sure they were safe. No amount of argument would appease them, so they just went along with it.

"I'm a rude person," they pointed out, gaze planted on the machine's smooth surface. "I wanted to check on things here and think," Chara explained, prying at a panel. Screwed shut, of course.

"I'll get a screwdriver!" Frisk chirped, running off to look for one before Chara could react. Well, that happened.

"Be careful!" Chara called, letting out a long sigh. Frisk was a cutie, but they had way too much energy. Still, they were manageable, even if the demon couldn't quite keep up. They knew how to handle themselves.

Their claws dug slightly into a groove in the machine, a gap between the panels of metal. It felt like if they reached deeper or remained there for too long, they'd be sucked in. They shook their hand off, narrowing their eyes at the contraption. No remorse for all the pain it'd caused. Not from it nor its creator.

They wanted to tear it apart.

They snapped back into focus when they heard Frisk running down the hall, screwdriver clutched tightly in their hands. "I got it!" They grinned, dropping it into Chara's hands.

"Thanks, hon." They couldn't help but smile, although weakly in the presence of the metal monster. They got to work on removing the panel, screw after screw.

"So what is this thing?" Frisk questioned, watching over their shoulder.

"It was made to take all of the determination out of a human soul."

That quieted them down. "...Was it ever used?"

"Multiple times." Frisk quieted down, frowning and shuffling. "It won't do anything if nobody hits the button, though, and even then it seems too rusted to move." Better safe than sorry, though.

They managed to get the panel open, prying it off and dropping it on the floor with a resounding clang. They had to squint to see inside, the liquid contained in it was too bright.

Chara fumbled around the thing, getting the container free and pulling it out. It was a tank of pure bright red, glowing in the darkness of the lab. Frisk peeked over their shoulder, frowning.

"Is that...?"

"Determination, yes. Pure, liquid determination."

"Why do you need it?" Clearly, Frisk was suspicious. Worried, too. After all Chara had done, they had every right to be.

"I don't want it falling into the wrong hands. A creature with this much would be immortal."

They at least seemed to relax at that. "Like us?"

"Hah. No. Worse. No saving, no loading, they'd just come right back."

"...Okay. You're gonna give it to Alphys, right?" Chara paused. They weren't so sure about that. After all, her experiments with determination had never left their mind.

"...Maybe. We'll see," They sighed softly, picking the tank up. They weren't sure what they'd do with it, but they couldn't leave it here. The demon paused, then set the liquid down on a table, looking back up at the machine.

They could remember it, pain splitting their whole being apart, draining all the fight from their little body. It didn't kill them, but it was the most painful part. Their soul felt weak, barely enough to survive, and the only chance they saw was getting back to their mother.

It was Chara's fault it happened. They insisted he'd help them. They really thought he would. But life wasn't so simple. They went home, shaking and stumbling, going as fast as they could. It was only a matter of time until they tripped, falling into one of the pits in the Ruins.

It was secondhand, like many of their memories. Still, they felt all of the pain, and even worse, the grief and guilt from the incident.

"Chara?" They snapped back to the present, glancing over at their datemate. They looked worried.

"I'm okay, ya goof." Chara let out a half-hearted chuckle, ruffling the human's hair. "Just thinking. Let's go home."

They were more than happy to leave that dark, horrible place behind.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry I haven't posted in so long aaaa
> 
> I already have another part of this done (like the 3rd part probably) so hopefully this'll be ongoing


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